The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts’ latest exhibition ‘Art Nouveau: The Nature of Dreams’ is a beautifully calming collection of work and has been adapted to keep visitors safe. Kate Wolstenholme went along.
Through ceramics, furniture, glass, jewellery, paintings, prints, sculpture and textiles, the exhibition explores the movement of Art Nouveau as it spread throughout Europe between 1890 and 1914.
The style became a dominant force in design and architecture throughout the era, and ‘Art Nouveau: The Nature of Dreams’ guides you through its origins and how it evolved.
The exhibition displays more than 150 works, on loan from The Anderson Collection and other lenders as well as from the Sainsbury Centre’s permanent collection, including work of the Doulton Pottery, Edgar Degas, William Morris and Josef Hoffmann.
Art Nouveau followed on from Impressionism and rejected its use of realism and instead relied more heavily on symbolism, myths and dreams.
As well as dreams, Art Nouveau was heavily influenced by nature during the period and it provided the main subject matter for the artwork.
The movement had an impact on many cities across the world, with each city placing their own spin on the style - The Royal Arcade is a key example of the impact Art Nouveau had on Norwich and it showcases the movement’s decorative and ornamental style.
Keen to introduce the public back into their collection, The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts have put in a range of measures to keep you safe upon visiting.
The large open-plan space allows you to stay well away from others, with one-way systems in place throughout and staff are regulating how many people are in the exhibition with one-hour time slots.
Located in the Mezzanine Gallery, ‘Art Nouveau: The Nature of Dreams’ takes you on an eye-opening and educational tour of a period of art which had a large impact on the design and architecture we still experience around the world today.
Art Nouveau: The Nature of Dreams runs at The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts until January 3 2021, from Tuesday to Sunday. Tickets cost £8, with concessions available and must be pre-booked at sainsburycentre.ac.uk
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